Jaden Heskey scored his first goal in professional football and Barry Bannan added a second off the bench as Sheffield Wednesday beat Sunderland Under-21s 2–0 at Hillsborough to reach the knockout stage of the Jersey Mike's Trophy with a game to spare.
The win follows September's 2–1 victory at Salford City and leaves the Owls top of Northern Group A with six points from two matches. It also extends Wednesday's unbeaten run across all competitions to seven games.
Six changes and a debut for Trueman
Henrik Pedersen made six changes to his starting line-up. Connal Trueman made his Wednesday debut in goal, Sean Fusire was handed his first start of the season, and Ricardo Santos, Gabriel Otegbayo, Billy Mitchell and Callum Slattery also came into the side. Bannan, who watched the Salford tie from the sidelines, began on the bench.
Wednesday lined up: Trueman; Fusire, Santos, Otegbayo, Palmer; Mitchell, Thornton; Slattery, Heskey, Akpobi; Burstow.
The game had extra value for the senior players involved. A behind-closed-doors friendly against Derby County during the international break was called off late in the day, so Tuesday night offered minutes to players pushing for a place in Saturday's League One trip to Huddersfield Town.
Heskey breaks the deadlock
Wednesday started brightly. Mason Burstow forced a save from Sunderland goalkeeper Joe Cowan inside three minutes, and Slattery had a header kept out soon after. Burstow then had two efforts in quick succession, one blocked and one dragged wide.
The breakthrough came on 21 minutes. Fusire provided the assist and Heskey, on a season-long loan from Manchester City, chipped his finish from the centre of the box.
Sunderland's side included the experience of Luke O'Nien and Alan Browne, and they responded almost immediately. Felix Scott forced a save from Trueman, and Jack Whittaker headed over from the resulting corner. Slattery went close twice more before the break, but Wednesday went in one goal to the good.
Bannan settles it after the interval
Pedersen made four changes around half-time. Bannan, Jamal Lowe and Reece James replaced Mitchell, Burstow and Santos, and Denny Oliver came on for Slattery.
Lowe had an early shot saved by Cowan, but the visitors grew into the half. Most of their efforts came from distance or were blocked before they could trouble Trueman, though Marcus Neill headed wide from a set piece with ten minutes left.
Bannan had already curled one effort just past the top corner when he made the game safe on 80 minutes. He finished with his left foot into the top corner from the left side of the area. The assist came from Samuel Duruh, who had been on the pitch for two minutes after replacing Jarvis Thornton, who was forced off injured.
Lowe forced another save from Cowan late on and Sunderland substitute James Barker fired narrowly wide in stoppage time, but Wednesday held on for the clean sheet.
Pedersen pleased with the minutes
Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield afterwards, Pedersen pointed to the missing Derby fixture as the reason the game was useful. "It was important because Derby cancelled our game last week," he said. "It's been a long time since we had game practice."
He was happy with the first half, saying his side showed "our high pressing again and the intensity in our game – with and without the ball." He acknowledged that Wednesday "lost our intensity for a while" after a good start to the second half, before getting it back.
"It was a good result to score two goals and get a clean sheet again," he added.
Al-Hamadi back in training before Huddersfield
There was positive news on Ali Al-Hamadi, who trained on Tuesday after the ankle injury he picked up on international duty with Iraq. Ernie Weaver was left out as a precaution after a minor knock before the game, and there are no concerns over Di'Shon Bernard.
Thornton's withdrawal is the one fresh concern from the evening ahead of the trip to Huddersfield on Saturday. Wednesday's final group game is against Accrington Stanley at Hillsborough on Tuesday 10 November.
Sources: The Wednesday Word (Joe Crann), Sheffield Wednesday FC, Sky Sports
Image: SWFC via X